Soledad Unified School District provides iPads to students

Some expensive high-tech gear is making its way to a South County middle school.

Gone are the textbooks, in are the tablets. Nearly all the 706 students at Main Street Middle School in Soledad are using iPads.

“I use it for homework and class work,” 8th grader Christian Lopez-Chavez said. “Anything that can help me that’s school-related.”

Paid for through LCAP funding, the students keep the iPads for the school year

“I think it’s really good for the kids who don’t have Internet at their house, or any access to Internet or technology,” 8th grader Hailey Higgins said.

Regardless of background, all these students have an equal chance to become technologically savvy.

“The push is that we’re trying to prepare them for the 21st century and what that means is job ready, college ready, career, all of those things are encompassing technology, and it’s our job and duty to make sure that they too (are) prepared to take on that adventure and that challenge,” said Main Street Middle School Principal Jessie Swift.

Teachers get to decide how they include the devices in their lesson plans, but the iPads are mandatory.

The district is also working with staff and students about safety off campus and online.

“As a district and a site, we’ve put our own firewalls so they can’t access certain websites, other people can’t access their own websites, they can’t look up a student’s information,” Swift said.

They ask students carrying their iPads going to and from school to be aware of their surroundings.

“If it comes down to the iPad or something, we want to make sure they’re safe first and we teach them the skills that are necessary,” Swift said.

The iPads are just one way district leaders hope to be one of the most competitive in the region. The district said it wants to build the first college-level science center in South County at Soledad High School.